Ep. 207 – Valerie Riley - If you struggle with finding more time for yourself to enjoy as an entrepreneur, Valerie recommends having a personal assistant. By having either a home or business personal assistant, you can take time off work and enjoy yourself without burning out. Valerie Riley evolved her career from a personal assistant to an entrepreneur and now a business owner. She started her company LifeSquire to provide a team of trained, insured, and bonded personal assistants to clients throughout the Oklahoma City area, which has grown into much more. In this episode, Valerie describes how her career as a personal assistant inspired her to start LifeSquire, plus the importance of building a work-life balance through delegation. Listen in to learn the importance of delegating tasks to create time for yourself so you can enjoy a work-life balance. You will also learn why you should look out to avoid hiring people with WOO (winning others over) and significant strengths personalities.
Key Takeaways:
- Why people fail in work-life balance because they spend most of their time working
- How to delegate and create space for you to enjoy a work-life balance
- How to change your mindset around the tasks you need to let go of so you have time for yourself
- How to hire for personality over skillsets because you can train skillsets but not a strong work ethic
"No one has the ability to have it all. There are going to be seasons in your life when work is going to be the priority, and that's okay. And conversely, there are going to be seasons of your life when your personal life is going to be the priority. Everyone goes through those seasons."
In this episode you’ll discover:
Valerie on how she transitioned from a personal assistant to an entrepreneur [1:36]
Why she started the personal assistance business and how they have evolved over time [3:51]
She shares a few tips on how to create more time for yourself and a work-life balance [6:50]
Why working from home proves to be difficult for people to maintain a work-life balance [12:15]
Tips on how to balance work and life when working from home [13:20]
The different things to think about before hiring an assistant and tracking the ROI it will bring you [14:39]
Valerie on things she does to create a balanced life and business after experiencing past burnout [19:22]
The struggles of hiring people with WOO and significant strengths personalities [26:18]
She explains why she changed her mind about franchising her brand’s concept [27:21]
The goals and tools they’re working on to improve work-life balance after the pandemic [31:28]
Where to find LifeSquire, plus the difference between personal assistants and virtual assistants [34:21]
How to establish boundaries between assistants and executives and have hard conversations [38:17]
The importance of asking for help plus the 3 things Valerie hopes you learn from this episode [42:05]
The value of having a purpose, mission, and passion for your life [45:36]
CAREER
Valerie believes that time is the most important nonrenewable resource.
Her career has evolved from personal assistant to entrepreneur and now a business owner. She started working as a personal assistant, and from that experience, she learned she is a natural caretaker.
She found herself truly inspired when she could see the stress from her boss decrease, and she knew that she was giving back.
When her boss decided to embrace “me time” and retire, she continued to work as an assistant, but she knew she wanted to help more people, so she created LifeSquire.
LifeSquire began as a company that provided a team of trained, insured, and bonded personal assistants to clients throughout the Oklahoma City area. Since then, it has grown into much more.
LifeSquire has become an assistant resource by continuing to provide a team of quality personal assistants but also connecting and placing assistants and other support staff in your home or office, and training those professionals through LifeSquire Academy. They also delved into technology and developed their own app that streamlines the communication between assistants and clients.
As she sat in more and more consultations with potential LifeSquire clients, she quickly learned that busy people need more than a personal assistant; they also need experienced handymen to complete odd jobs around their homes.
LifeSquire assistants have done things like changing the glass in an oven or creating a hanging toy shelf, but they don’t handle those odd jobs. That inspired her to create her newest company, Level. They provide a team of insured and bonded handymen with a variety of levels of expertise so that all repairs can be completed quickly and efficiently. From painting to new flooring or more, they handle it all.
Outside of the business building, she is constantly dreaming and brainstorming new ways to make the lives of those around her calm and stress-free.
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Donna Miller is the founder and CEO of Purse Power, Let's Share the Journey. Purse Power promotes women-led, women-owned businesses by providing a Google extension that allows everyone who visits your website to locate nearby businesses.
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